COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State's Jim Tressel and Michigan's Lloyd Carr did their first bit of coaching this week when they instructed their players to not say anything negative about the other team on the eve of 104th meeting on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Idle talk has inflamed The Game, in a history of controversies before, after and during the annual grudge match:
The Tie: No. 1 Ohio State and No. 4 Michigan met in 1973 with both teams unbeaten (the Buckeyes in nine games, the Wolverines in 10). Michigan had outscored its opponents 320-58, Ohio State by a margin of 361-33. After an epic struggled, they ended up in a 10-10 tie.
In those days, only one Big Ten team got to go to a bowl, and the only bowl was the Rose. Since the teams ended up tied in the league standings, the Big Ten athletic directors met and voted who should represent the conference in Pasadena.
Ohio State had gone the year before, which normally would have favored Michigan. After some deliberation the ADs picked the Buckeyes. Whether it was because Michigan QB Dennis Franklin broke his collarbone in the game, or because the Wolverines failed to win on their home field, Ohio State was the choice.
Many Michigan people believed that Michigan State, humiliated 31-0 earlier in the season by the Wolverines, voted against their in-state rival out of spite. Some also said that two former Michigan men who were ADs in the conference betrayed their alma mater.
What a riot!: After Ohio State intercepted a pass near the goal line on the final play of the 2002 game to preserve a 14-9 victory, the fans went wild. Police had to use pepper spray to keep the crowd away from the goalposts.
"Celebrating" the No. 2-ranked Buckeyes' victory, the crowd went on a violent spree that resulted in cars being overturned, couches being burned and trash set afire. More than 60 people were arrested and eight students were expelled from school. The party-turned-riot led to crackdowns on alcohol at games and also a major public-relations push to stem any violence beforehand.
Who let the dogs out? When No. 7 Michigan's bus pulled up to Ohio Stadium for the 2004 game, Carr and his players were put through a security gauntlet that included being subjected to drug-sniffing dogs.
When Carr complained of the shoddy treatment, Ohio State officials said that every visiting team that year had gone through the same process _ although three of the teams denied that was true. Carr said he was told by a campus police officer that the order to do the embarrassing security check came from the athletic department and not from police officials.
Carr left the stadium even angrier, on the wrong side of a 37-21 score to the unranked Buckeyes.
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